Why I Plan: Reinventing Success at any Age

Are you a planner like me? If so, you’ve probably tried a myriad of planners some more successful than others. During COVID, I bought myself a new type of planner that goes beyond just organizing my day. It encourages monthly goal-setting, includes progress tracking, and even encourages rewards for meeting milestones. It also has dedicated sections for different areas of life such as work, family, spirituality. These help map out a full year of intention. If you’re interested, you can check out the planner I use here: Commit30.

Each day, I mark whether I achieved my goal. At the end of the month, I have a visual display of my progress. These add up to a year of hit or missed milestones. My initial goals were focused on hygiene, then general health and wellness. It did start as a COVID planner, after all. But while I don’t think you need this particular planner, I do believe in the power of planning. Taking time daily, weekly, or monthly to reflect and set intentions keeps you moving toward a future designed by you.

The Challenge of Rewards

I’ll admit, I’m terrible at rewarding myself. When I lose weight, I give myself money to spend at ThredUp. When I journal for a month, I buy a new pen. But honestly? This part doesn’t inspire me. If my goal is to save money, why would I celebrate by spending it? Maybe my real reward is a better shot at early retirement, something far more motivating than anything I could buy, but harder to quantify in a satisfying way. 

On reflection, I think this section isn’t that useful for me. The reward is the process, which sounds ridiculous but it is true. I find things I would never have thought about incorporating into my life all while becoming healthier and having a more balanced life. If you have a strategy for setting meaningful, intrinsic rewards, I’d love to hear it as I do like to pamper myself and a reward gives a perfect excuse.

Avoiding the Mid-Year Slump

At the start of each year, I’m full of enthusiasm, ready to tackle new challenges. But like clockwork, the excitement wears off, and the mid-year lull sets in. Staying engaged is tough. I believe luck plays a role in life, but it’s not a strategy, goals give direction. Luck can give you a quick win but not lasting progress. Right now, I’m laser-focused on retiring in exactly 8 ¼ years. Without clear goals, time slips away, and the future could be disappointing and might result in me working longer than I planned.

Looking through my old planners, I found goals that have become so ingrained in my routine, it’s hard to believe they started as 30-day experiments these include meditation, skincare, autophagy, and yoga. Others haunted me for years, like strength training, until I finally succeeded (thanks to iFit and John Peele! 😊). Ironically, shortly after I finally was able to cross that one off my list, life threw a curveball, a bad hiking fall is forcing me to rethink my approach to strength training. Plans evolve, and so do we.

This year I plan on using my long-term goals to help me through my mid-year slump. I also plan on having monthly goals instead of daily goals for a month or two. My goal for July could be to read one investment book and one bestselling fiction book. Or I will post three blogs in August. Something that keeps me moving forward but without the pressure of a daily goal, this should give me time to smell the roses and recharge.

Reinvention at Any Age

This year, I’ve journaled and started taking pictures, two things I have always been interested in but never prioritized. Sometimes by having a goal life helps you achieve it, that happened with both of these so far. January was for Journaling, and if you read my blog on Belize you will know that I had a lot of time to journal there. That one stuck, although I didn’t expect much from journaling, there’s something magical about waking up early, sitting in a quiet house, and letting my thoughts flow. It helps me organize my day, without even meaning to. I can’t believe I didn’t try it sooner.

Photography sat untouched in my planner for five years. Then, life handed me a gift, a beautiful new camera. I may never have crossed it off my list otherwise. My second push into something unexpected, isn't it weird when the universe delivers what we need when we need it.

 From Short-Term Challenges to Lifelong Habits

Some of my favorite 30-day challenges have shaped my identity:

• Sleep hygiene
• Autophagy
• No alcohol
• Reducing inflammation
• Learning to invest
• Meditation

What started as a temporary experiment, learning to invest, became a lifelong commitment. Now, I always have investment books in my reading queue, and I automate my deposits into both retirement and the stock market. Goal-setting keeps me aligned, not just in finances, but in health and lifestyle choices too. I used to worry that I didn't have enough hobbies. Now, I have plenty of interests just to enough time for them all.

Other experiments were a miss. No cell phone after 7 p.m. or over the weekend? Not so much.

The Power of Planning

Each December, I dedicate time to setting up my planner, filling in important dates, reflecting on the past year, and mapping out the new one. What have I learned from all this planning?

1. You can do anything for 30 days.
2. You have more time than you think.
3. Give yourself grace when things don’t go as planned.

In the coming weeks, I’ll write more about the habits that have made the biggest impact on my life. While I feel confident in my short-term goal-setting, this year, I want to use my planner to focus more on long-term goals. And even though it’s no longer December, it’s never too late to sprinkle in big-picture plans to stay on track, and maybe, just maybe, avoid that mid-year slump.

I’d love to hear from you! What’s a short-term challenge that has turned into a lifelong habit for you?